Chocolate-Cherry Hazelnut Bars

Easy and addicting, these Chocolate-Cherry Hazelnut bars have dried cherries mixed right into the butter cookie dough. They are then smothered in chocolate and garnished with toasted hazelnuts. Few things in this world are better than hazelnuts paired with chocolate. You’ll find it hard to resist the temptation to have an extra piece of these Chocolate-Cherry Hazelnut Bars.

Seriously, these are super easy to make! And who want’s complicated when you’re trying to keep up with the holiday madness? Nobody. With this recipe you can create a lovely variety plate of Christmas goodies to share with friends, family and neighbors that won’t give you a holidaze….

I strongly recommend you use a food processor for mincing the dried cherries and the hazelnuts. Dried cherries are easy enough to chop with a chef’s knife, but you don’t want to try to chop hazelnuts. They roll all over the place and you’re likely to slice a bit of finger off if you try to hold them still to slice. I was struggling with this very thing when I noticed my food processor was staring me in the face. I had just used it on the cherries~ forget chopping nuts by hand, I’m dumping them in the food processor! Duh 🙂

Some of you may find it difficult to get your hands on hazelnuts. I can usually find them at Whole foods or Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage. If they are raw, you’ll need to toast them in an oven at 350 for about 10 mins. Dump all the nuts into a kitchen towel, close the towel around the nuts with one hand and gently rub the nuts together with the other. This will remove all the skins nice and quick and you’ll be ready to go. You’ve go to give these Chocolate Cherry Hazelnut Bars a try, you won’t be disappointed.

Move your oven rack to the lower-middle position and set the oven to heat to 375. Line a rimmed baking sheet (18X12 inch) with parchment paper.

Press the butter cookie dough into the baking sheet to cover the entire bottom.

Sprinkle the chopped cherries over the dough and gently press them in.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until light golden brown.

Right out of the oven, sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the baking sheet and let them melt for about 3 minutes, then spread evenly with a knife or spatula.

While the chocolate is still melted, sprinkle the final layer of chopped hazelnuts on top. Cool on a wire rack for at least 20 mins or until the chocolate has set up. Use a pizza wheel to cut into 1 1/2 inch squares or diamonds.